Ooh what a strange break from Lord of the Rings! Not really, political intrigue is the back bone of every world-building story, regardless of drama - one of the most frequent Game of Thrones directors also directed 34 episodes of The West Wing. And as we get deeper and deeper into the Rohan / Gondor relationship in LOTR, Tolkien's increasing interest in geopoltical intrigue is threatening to outpace all that pesky Ring drama!

So today Cam is taking a look at all three series of the BBC's House of Cards adaptation, to learn more about trilogies, echoes, reflections, mustache-twirling murders, time jumps, evolving metaphors, decaying humanity, and the power of grand finales in character-focused dramas. Any of that sound familiar, J.R.R.? Oh and there's Shakespeare. Buckets and buckets of Shakespeare, from Macbeth to Henry IV (both parts) and everything in between.

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